Some Southern food, and a Whole Lot of Harry Potter!!!!

Day 32: Saturday, April 14

It is crazy today to think that this is the beginning of my and Carmen’s last weekend in London.  We tried hard not to think of it like that, but instead, to make the most of out of it that we could!  Since our previous attempt at seeing the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace was an abysmal failure (see previous post and remember about the marathon event going on!), we decided to give it another go today!  We didn’t have a great view of the guards changing inside the gates, but we could definitely hear all of the music.  And it turns out we were in the perfect spot to see the horse parade pass by!  Literally within a few feet of us.  It was very cool!

The horse parade at the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

And ever since our beautiful Easter service experience at Westminster Abbey, we have been wanting to go back to take a tour, since that was obviously not allowed during church  :)  After enjoying another student discount (score!), we were off on our self-guided (but with free audio-guide) tour.  It was absolutely AMAZING.  I expected nothing less, but still.  It is so gorgeous on the inside.  And there are literally thousands of tombs, shrines, memorials, and statues of various people.  To name a few who are buried or have memorials: several royals before Windsor became a more popular place to be buried, including King Henry VI, King Henry VII, Queen Mary I, Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots; also Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Isaac Newton, Jane Austen, the Bronte Sisters, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Handel, Charles Darwin (oh, the irony!), Oliver Cromwell, and the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  The Abbey is over 1000 years old, and the detail and design of the architecture are breathtaking.  I feel like I’ve said it so many times, but the history here is incredible to try to take in.  I loved having the opportunity to visit here!

The front of Westminster Abbey

A view of the side

After a bit of a confusing journey and many bus/train connections, Carmen and I decided to give The Hard Rock Café another shot since it was a weird hour to be eating.  We arrived around 2:30, and there was still over an hour wait time.  But today, they found room for us at the counter area…in less than 3 minutes!  Perfect!  We both enjoyed some good ole’ Southern BBQ sandwiches, and it felt just like home.  I guess I’m missing my GA food more than I thought.  Though I do have to say that the food here is much, MUCH better than I expected, and I will miss many of the places that we have become our favorite “go-to’s.”  We were also able to go down in The Vault and see many priceless pieces of guitars and outfits of famous rockers and singers, including one of Madonna’s old credit cards.  How do they find these things?!

We had decided that we wanted to go see Mamma Mia tonight because there was an advert (aka ad or advertisement) that it was only £40, and the whole time we had been here it was around £70.  Plus we had heard that it was really good!  Well, we made it to the ticket booth, only to find out that the advert was wrong, and they tried to charge us almost £70…no way!  We’ll try again on Monday since it’s usually not a busy day for shows.  Carmen and I then contemplated going to a regular movie, but since we were in Leicester Square, the tickets were quite expensive and also at inconvenient times.  So it was off to our favorite go-to shop, Primark, for a little bit of retail therapy before heading home!  By the time we finally made it back home, we were so exhausted, and I may have taken a 3+hour naps (but I did feel so much better upon awakening, so I deem it completely worth it).  We finished our day by getting all the details and final logistics for our trip to the Harry Potter Studio tomorrow!  We can hardly wait!!

Day 33: Sunday, April 15

Today was quite the exciting day!  For those of you who don’t know, Carmen and I are huge, HUGE, HUGE Harry Potter fans.  Especially the books, but also the movies.  And today was our tour of the actual studio and sets, costumes, etc. from the movies.  Wow!  There really aren’t a lot of words that will explain how amazing and extraordinarily this was, so I’m just not even going to try.  So just enjoy a few of the (hundreds) of pictures that I took below!  I will say, though, that the second to last room they take you to is a model of the Hogwarts Castle and grounds.  And not just any model.  This is pretty much the ultimate as far as models go.  Several stories tall, with extreme detail down to every last hand-painted stone of the castle.  Carmen and I “won” the award for being the furthest travelers to the exhibit and also for being the only people who have been to both Harry Potter Land at Universal Studios in Orlando and the Studio Tours in London.  A proud moment for us both.  Also, most of the things in the movie that you think must be digitally added in really weren't.  The moving staircases, the Gringott's door, and the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets (just to name a few) are all real and working.  Carmen and I were shocked!!  The suggested time of the tour was about 3 hours, but we stayed until it was closing and were there for almost 4 hours!  It was phenomenal!  After the long trip back to our house, we ordered our usual weekly Pizza Hut, and as usual, it was awesome!  Now to get ready for our last week at the hospital!

In front of the official studio where the Harry Potter movies were filmed!!!

How it all began.  Harry Potter's official Hogwarts acceptance letter.

#4 Privet Drive.  Amazing.  The actual house they built for the movie!!!

Harry's bed in the boy's dormitory.  Interesting fact:  They never expected the books/movies to be as big a hit as they became, so they made the set to fit 11 year old boys.  Obviously, they were way off, but didn't have room to change the set, so the beds were ultra tiny to fit the boys when they were in their 20's!!

In the Great Hall (and with all the official costumes, of course).  And boy, does it live up to its name!!!  A picture really doesn't do it justice. 

Part of the Potions room.  With Snape's official costume.  Too bad Alan Rickman wasn't there also.  Interesting fact:  there are over 1,000 bottles, all with original handwritten labels of various real and made-up ingredients!

Professor Dumbledore's office.  His telescope in the background in truly amazing.  It's shame they never zoomed in on it in the movies!

Various artifacts from the movies.  The Deluminator, Time-Turner, Philospher's Stone (remember, we're in the UK now!), the first snitch Harry every caught, just to name a few.

You know, just chilling and taking a ride on the Knight Bus :)

The giant model of Hogwarts used for all the far off and zoomed-in shots during the movie.  It literally takes your breath away.  This is just one of the many shots I took of it.  I won't bore you with them all, but feel free to ask if you want to see them :)

In front of the castle.  Sadness that it's blurry.

In front of the entrance to Hogwarts.  Truly outstanding.